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Great deal if you have more than one computer and like McAfee products

McAfee Total Protection 2010 - 3 User for FREE

* Amazon.com is carrying this McAfee Antivirus Software for $25.00 * There is a $25 Exclusive Mail-In Rebate on it until 05/08/2010 * Shipping is Free on $25 or more * Final Price: $25.00 - $25 = Free + Free Shipping

I use AVG internet security. Like all anti-virus software its always a day late and a dollar short. That's the nature of the game. Thousands of new virus programs are written daily. Its only after computers like yours and mine get infected that the anti-virus people become aware of them and add them to the protection software. The pluses to AVG are the firewall and that it doesn't add a serious drag to your CPU.The surest anti-virus protection is a Linux based OS.

Denny

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I always wanted to be a procrastinator..........I just never got around to it.

Interesting, open source like Linux is often the first to fall to hackers in contests, last one I read was 15 minutes for the the Apple Linux based OS10 whatever.

AVG has dragged both of the computers I tried it on to a screeching halt, so badly I elected to go without anti-virus and retain functionality until tax time and I could get McAfee for free with my tax software. Everyones experience is different, about like the "which kite is best?" threads. McAfee is a drain but any anti-virus is, my experience is it's less so then AVG. Now AVG may just not play well with some software I run on all my computers, YMMV. Microsoft's new free AV in its Security Essentials has been satisfactory on the couple I'm running it on and reviews have been good. Avast, Avira, and Microsoft have been placing consistently above AVG lately.

As always the best protection is education, I've run without AV for years on connected PC's with no problems. Mike posted a great run down on computer safety a while ago, it's worthwhile reading for everybody although I can't find it again (Mike link back to it here)

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"Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see" John W Lennon

"People do not quit playing because they grow old, they grow old because they quit playing" George Bernard Shaw

...anything sufficiently obscure so that the nasty people don't have an interest in it so use this list to help you choose. These people may be unpleasant but they clearly have a firm grasp of statistics.

Also, with an 8 core CPU I'm a lot less worried by CPU usage than I am by the unpleasantness of infection.

Interesting, open source like Linux is often the first to fall to hackers in contests, last one I read was 15 minutes for the the Apple Linux based OS10 whatever.

That's pretty much irrelevant really. People don't waste their time writing virus programs that are only going to effect a very few systems. Your choice of OS will give you much better protection than any anti-virus software will.

Denny

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I always wanted to be a procrastinator..........I just never got around to it.

I will refrain from commenting on the merits/problems of different software programs, I believe nothing is ever gained by bad-mouthing something/someone. When I find something/someone that preforms a function that is beneficial to me I will use it. If it doesn't work for me fine, it still might be exactly what you are looking for, but I will let you decide. I personally do not use McAfee on my computers, I simply saw this great deal and offered it to the forum as that, a great deal.

As always the best protection is education, I've run without AV for years on connected PC's with no problems. Mike posted a great run down on computer safety a while ago, it's worthwhile reading for everybody although I can't find it again (Mike link back to it here)

Needed to add, the best defense in the league isn't going to win a ballgame if the Offense is sitting on the sidelines.

Although still low Linux's popularity is rising, I'm even tempted to switch or at least dual boot these days since I'm disillusioned with everybody gathering information on my usage statistics for their profit without giving me a share. I think we'll be seeing more attacks directed at Linux and since the code is openly available it's an easier target, that is the relevance.

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"Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see" John W Lennon

"People do not quit playing because they grow old, they grow old because they quit playing" George Bernard Shaw

I've gone through a bunch of free AV programs and a bunch of free Firewalls on my current main computer (a pretty old IBM Thinkpad T40, bought used). The firewalls have done worse than the AV programs, but none of them have stayed great for long.

Each highly recommended firewall eventually "blew up" and got replaced with the next one. I'm actually back to ZoneAlarm (free) after years with the competition, and it's been behaving very nicely for maybe 4 months or so.

On the AV side, I kept using Avira for maybe 5 or 6 months or so, but I kept planning to get rid of it. It updates FREQUENTLY (like maybe 2x/day?), and each time, my computer slowed down a LOT, with no notice, no indication of what was tying it up or how long it would take, etc. It was more from tying up the HDD than the CPU, so it might be an especial problem on a "mature" laptop, with a slow HDD. (And it might not be helped much by a faster CPU or more RAM.)

I've just uninstalled it to try MS Security Essentials. So far, I've turned off the real-time monitoring, so it's no drag at all. My wife's been "going commando" -- no AV or FW -- for a long time now, behind our NAT router. . .

On the Linux question, I've installed a tiny minimalist distro called xPUD that does amazing things in NO time at all when I use it. It's perfect for logging on quickly in an airport or a coffee shop, because it boots up in maybe 15 seconds total, rather than "don't ask how long"!! And it shuts down instantly, too. It doesn't do much -- mostly wired or wireless browsing and file management -- but it does it pretty well and very fast!

I've also made a CD from the brand-new Ubuntu distro, but I've only run it briefly from the CD, haven't installed it (and may not). It seems nice.

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